Previously, Drive and Photos had separate desktop apps for syncing. In addition, the new tool lets you upload files from outside your designated local Google Drive folder-so you can back up your Desktop or Documents folder without moving those files to the Google Drive folder. As with the old Google Drive client, Backup & Sync lets you choose specific folders from Google Drive to sync to your computer, so you don’t have to have everything on your desktop or laptop at once. It doesn’t differ too much from the old applications, but it does provide more comprehensive backup for your whole computer. To edit Shared drives files, the editor must open the file in Google Shared drives in a web browser.Home users can replace their Drive clients for Windows and macOS with a new tool called Backup & Sync, which Google announced back in July. Shared drives editors cannot edit any Shared drives files when they are open in Drive for desktop they can only view them. If you share a document in a Shared drive with a person who is not a member of that Shared drives, that person will only have the ability to “edit” the file.

There are a few limitations and known issues with using Drive for desktop. Step by step installation instructions for Windows and Mac.These cached files sync back to the cloud when you are online, so the latest version is available on all your devices. You can also make My Drive and Shared drives files available for offline access. When you make edits to the file, the changes are automatically saved in My Drive. With Drive for desktop, you can open and edit most document types directly out of Drive for desktop without having to download the file onto your computer. Minimizes the amount of company data stored on users’ hard drives.

Frees up disk space and network bandwidth.

Drive for desktop is a desktop application that lets you stream My Drive and Shared drives files directly from the cloud. You can install Drive for desktop on your Windows or Mac computer as soon as you have access to Google Drive on the web.

Google drive for desktop is coming soon